05 May 2012

Fulham striker Clint Dempsey is on fire this season, and earlier this week, Liverpool Chairman Tom Werner revealed his admiration for the American striker. I've argued several times this season that Liverpool should try and sign Dempsey in the summer, and according to Fulham manager Martin Jol, Dempsey could be available for a potential transfer very soon.

Jol is aware of the growing interest in his prize asset, and he's seemingly determined to keep Dempsey at Fulham:

"We talked to him and hopefully he will sign a contract to keep him here for the next three years. No club that has made an approach for him, but it's nice if they are positive about him"

However, during a Q&A session at Craven Cottage a few weeks ago, Jol made it clear that Dempsey will be shipped out if he refuses to sign a new contract. The following tweets from someone who attended the session confirm this:

Liverpool legend Steve Nicol managed Dempsey at New England Revolution, and he recently talked up the possibility of a move to one of the Premier League's big clubs:

"If you look at Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal, the way they play would suit him [Dempsey] down to the ground, and for me, there's no reason why any one of those teams shouldn't be looking at him. If you look at the stats - and no disrespect to Fulham - those numbers tell you he should be playing at a high level.

The prolific striker's record this season is superb: 23 goals and 6 assists in all competitions, which is a brilliant return, especially as he's playing in a team with comparatively inferior players to Liverpool.

Dempsey cost Fulham a comparatively paltry $4m, but is now reported to be worth £10m, and if Liverpool came in with a decent bid, I'm sure he could be prised away.

55 comments:

I don't think anything. I used to like your blog, but overtime, I realized you are a bad critic. U rant a lot about the negatives without anything positive. Fine I know we ought to have done better in the leagues, but being over critical gets be angry. If LFC were to bring in whoever you want as manager, and splash an extra 100mil on players you suggested and yet things don't go well, will your bog still be in business?

i dont see fsg paying out serious mony for a player who is past the age range of 26 that they prefer, i think dempsey will be 30 next season so it would be dead money as there will be no sell on value on the player.

I think CD is a little too old for that. LFC should try to look abroad for unproven young players with price tags between 3-5 mil pounds. But before that, LFC should remove the manager, those seriously under-performing players that have big fat contracts

Clint Dempsey is a good player, but I am hoping Liverpool sign Kevin Doyle from Wolves. He's an international, he's strong, quick, quite skillful, good passer and knows where the goal is, plus he wouldn't cost a fortune. The centre of midfield is where Liverpool need to spend big. Gerrard has never been as prolific since the loss of Alonso and then Mascherano. Spearing is willing, but he will never be in that class of player and from today's performance in the Cup Final it showed. Liverpool are not far away, they just need a top class midfield general and with Lucas returning as an enforcer next season will hopefully be able to put teams to the sword with Gerrard playing much further up the field.

dembella of fulham we should go after,hoilett,or moses as well,if blackburn go down,get robinson as keeper to put pressure on reina,de jong off city for holding player,good exsperiance,i f we loose lucas,or play both together,with lucas a bit further up,and a fox in the box that can score tap ins,henderson good sub adam the same,enriqui needs more competition to,great first half season very bad second half.

would be a great addition, looks after himself and looks like he has least 3-4 years left in him at the top. and the main thing he has that most ours dont is bottle and hes a fighter. we need to cut our losses. i dont care if we have to sell downing, adams and henderson to fund it.and i agree aquashould come back. the players we shifted to get the rubbish kenny purchased just beggers belief.new players and new manager is needed next season, kenny has had a fair crack at it and he clearly is not taking liverpool forward

Liverpool's goalscoring has been a big problem but their supply line is terrible too. Midfield is just not good enough. Dempsey would be a decent signing but my concern with him is his age and the fact that Downing has been a shocking signing makes me sceptical about signing him.

We should wait for Chelsea, Man utd, Arsenal, Man city Real Madrid, Tottenham and Barcelona to bid for him first......but they won't. Another player who is a jack of all trades and master of none. Not good enough, unless that is of course FSG's plan is to raise the profile of Liverpool in the states by signing an American player.

Unless KD changes his ethos on tactics & giving players' clearly not up to the task chance after chance, it doesn't matter who we sign, we will continue to struggle. For 60 minutes yesterday we laboured & were awful, pro-active managers' like Fergie, Mourinho & even Mancini (taking off Balotelli) are able to see what needs to be changed early in the game & are not afraid to make early changes. Also those talking about going back to Benitez we will have the same problem - no substitutions before 60 minutes.

In response to the OP, Dempsey is not a player that shouts "progress" to me for LFC. The outlay on CHAD has been a failure (though I will defend Carroll as we haven't played to his strengths, crosses have been dire & he didn't set the transfer fee). So, we should not be contemplating £10mill on a player to keep us mid table.

I hope we see Raheem Stirling get a good run out in the last 2 games of the season to perhaps seal his place in the starting line up for next season. Henderson should not be seen in a Liverpool shirt ever again, he goes missing so often in games would anyone even notice?

B) Keep Carroll and buy a back up striker who brings something different to our line up.....i.e.pace..???

C) Replace Reina.

D) Replace ENRIQUE...

E) Replace Maxi and Spearing with another winger and QUALITY central midfielder.

F) Replace Kuyt.

A failure to adddress our weaknesses this summer will set us up for another midtable finish or worse.....

BUT we won't do that, we will get it ALL wrong, i have lost faith in the upper etchelons of the Club tbh, not just Kenny being completely unable to get a handle on things but our owners too, who have blindly stumbled down the same path as previous owners by throwing money away and leaving us with a disjointed squad......

What will it take for someone with half a brain to take control of the Club without making things worse.....? a fear of fan reaction is what is and has been holding this club back for years....

Dempsey IMO would have been a better option than Suarez up front plus we wouldn't have lost him for 8 games due to ban due to his stupidity but even if we had bought Dempsey we still wouldn't have played him.........

Honestly, after watching that final yesterday it comfirmed everything i already knew that was rotten at the Club.....

1) Player clique (Reina Suarez Enrique etc v the Brits..) - CHECK.

2) A manager who is blind to that and therefore unbale to change things around... - CHECK.

3) Owners who are also blind to the player issue's...so they will no doubt get rid of Kennys buys and keep the saboteurs..... - CHECK.

4) A whole fan base in denial of the above...and therefore either siding with saboteurs who have ruined our season....or defending players like Spearing whilst asking for patience for Kenny.... - CHECK.

Yesterday was a dark day for this Club IMO we didn't even turn up for that final after resting 9 players for the game.....we are so far out of touch with the reality of whats going on with our beloved team that we will no doubt fail to address our issue's, i fear for our future tbh, we are a Club out of touch with itself without any unity or stability...

He is 29, but he's a young 29. He looks like he can go on playing for quite some time again. Our style suits him, but here's the catch, I think if we get him we shouldn't splurge on another big money striker e.g Higuain. as that would leave both him and Carroll out in the cold. We should get one of those young talents we've been linked with, De Jong, Texeira, or Van Wolfwinkel, all of whom may have no problem with a few starts or coming off the bench for now.

After our poor performances this season and the team being exposed no decent player will come to liverpool when he realises he's got to play with the likes of spearing, downing and henderson. Even a sunday league player will think twice!!

We should get him, I see him as an ideal replacement for Kuyt, able to play in a number of forward positions and a definite goal threat. We can possibly send Kuyt the other way, Dempsey being four years younger with a similar engine but more technically gifted....sound good. But agree we should be looking to pay Adam sort o money on him.

This would make sense from a financial perspective....attracting additional support from the US of A....and with naming rights high on the agenda it may help attract a large american corporate....sh*te I know but it is reality....

Henderson, Spearing, Downing, Adam, Seriously would they get in the squads of Man u, Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs, ABSOLUTELY NOT.even Newcastle and Everton have a better midfield than Liverpool and I truly did not think I would ever say that ) It is painfully clear to all fans that after a full season they are not good enough to play for the reds and MUST leave the club in 2 weeks time.

Now onto KD.

KD's statement that it was maybe INEXPERIENCE and NERVES that cost us was an UNDERSTATEMENT and was painfully obvious to everyone not withstanding the lack of quality, does KD think Henderson and Spearing are better and more experienced players than Kuyt and Maxi ?, yet again another TACTICAL COCKUP.

After 15 mins everyone could see that Luis Suarez was totally isolated up front on his own and an immediate change was needed after 20mins especially after the Spearing/Enrique clanger after 10mins, so no changes and Spearing goes and cocks it up again on 55mins, IF KD had made the necessary changes at half time and brought Andy Carroll on for Spearing things may have been a lot different but we will never know now will we.

KD's TACTICS ARE APPALLING WEEK IN WEEK OUT,

SERIOUSLY !!! LETS SUPPOSE I'M WRONG ABOUT THE PLAYERS ABOVE and that they will come good, well answer me this then ? HOW will I or anyone know this as KD keeps playing and dropping them every week not to mention playing them out of position and changing them in positions during game also how did it happen that we manage to get an outstanding 32 yr old welsh wizard who is a STRIKER and by far a better left winger than a 20 Million pound international winger that played for middlesbrough.

To say that the players will learn and grow from this next season is wholly unacceptable, as Ray Houghton said yesterday a CLEAROUT is needed and fast as the fans most definitely don't want to see these players next season

It is KD's total blind loyalty to these players that he has to be sacked and what is the point of putting him upstairs ( poor old Kenny ,!!! its embarrassing ) If KD was good why did he get the sack from Newcastle and Celtic.

Most Liverpool Supporters were - in which case, we have to give him TIME.

This season is a bedding in season, they, including Kenny are to be judged on next season and beyond...

The fact that we won the Carling Cup and got to the FA Cup Final are a BONUS.

They came within an inch of forcing extra time against thoroughbreds like Chelsea, during a 30 minute period of "TOTAL DOMINANCE"...that indicates they are CAPABLE....it will give them confidence for next season.

Henderson and Spearing wre meant to be back up to Gerrard & Lucas, exposing them gradually to the team....it didn't pan out that way - Dalglish is NOT THE ORACLE!

The young lads and new signings are being used as scapegoats IMO.

Our problems have been a cluster-fuck of issues, SOME of which could not be foreseen:

Experienced players like Reina, Johnson, Downing (albeit a new signing) in particular have been poor by their standards all season.

New Signings - It could be argued that most doubted themseves - especially the "PRICE TAG" - It's a lot to live up to and ANY self-doubt affects performance, decision making and subsequently confidence. A full-season under their belt, a Carling Cup Winners Medal and the last 30 minutes of yesterday WILL help enormously.

Gerrard out for half the season, Lucas out for most of it.

Suarez Race row - so DAMAGING to the club and Suarez should shoulder the blame....

Luck - Hit the woodwork 31 tims before yesterday.

How many goalies have had "worldies" aainst us this season...PLENTY

Confidence - combination of all factors above have affected confidence enormously. You cannot perform in ANY SPORT to your highest level without it....

We CANNOT have so many factors contribute COLLECTIVELY to work against us....quite simply, it cannot get any worse, even if we kept the exact same squad next season.

Alot of you guys are so biased because hodgson didn't last nowhere close to this length before he went and fans were all screaming daglishs name now I hardly here his name you all getting fed up already?? Lol I like daglish but he needs to sign proper players as you all would agree we went from having one of the best midfield in the world (alonso mascherano and gerrard) to flipping Henderson downing and spearing come on my Liverpool brothers and sisters seriously!!!! People then say patience what patience we are not Newcastle or Manchester city fans that all of a sudden there up there these are teams and many alike that in 2005 and earlier fans would say patience NOT Liverpool we have been doing well and we need to get back to that and do better. Don't talk to me about patience Ive been waiting all my life for the premier league just when I thought we won it we messed up!! Look at us now we are no where near being on top. Get the right guys quick. Am just wasting my time not like daglish is gonna read our comments anyway. Chelsea already got Marin what we waiting for!!!!

Hoilett - far more an attractive proposition for wide right.Moses - wide left with Suarez central. Full of guile and pace and a threat for ANY back 4. Both of the above are available....

Midfield 3 of Lucas, Gerrard and one more...either Henderson or Adam who will both benefit from having Gerrard and Lucas alongside them to guide them....Henderson in particular will flourisg alongside them both.

Bellamy and Downing would both then be acceptable substitutes...

Nigel De Jong is a thug...we don't need him and I sure don't want him. I'll take Adam Johnson from City though....

One more signing - striker. Soldado or Rossi....Carroll would then be a plan B / another dimension if things are not going quite right. He will come good next season and start to bully defenders once more!!!!!

Looking at it, we're not as far away as people on here have been saying for the last weeks.....

Sign Dempsey up for the bargain basement price and back him up by signing Kagawa, 14 goals and 9 assists this season. Between the pair of them they could show this current shower the way it should be done !

Mike Spencer, who is the official chairman and head football journalist of the Liverpool fc fanzine ( Seaforth Branch ) says he has seen sight of a copy of Jordan Henderson's birth certificate at the Sunderland town hall ( apparently he hollidays up there every year ) and it reads.................

Name Jordan, Kenneth, Dalgleesh Henderson

DOB 1st April 1991

Weight 3 pound 2 ounces

Born Peterlee, Sunderland

Mother Wendy Henderson

Father Unknown

It would appear that the Dalgleesh name was crossed out through the middle with a blue Biro.

Mike, now wanting to get to the bottom of it ( tooo late mike kenny already has, sorry ) contacted Wendy and requested a phone interview in which she says it's true "I think" we had a one night stand and I was feeling low and kenny had just through his hand in at liverpool anyway i'd had far to much to drink ( hence the spelling ) as kenny kept plying me with bottles of pale ale and snowball chasers, she says it was either kenny or Howard Kendall.

teryy you have it right Fenway do ot buy players over a certain age its dead money as the value reduces to quickly, look at kuyt being talked about for 5 mil at 32. They will look fo the future at around 25 but my concern is they are not showing any patience for that strategy. Carrol, henderson, coates , all the right age but they have now lost confidence in that system after less than a year becuase they though a 21 year old would be a good as a 28 year old and are dispapionted they cant outplay world class plares with more exp after only being at the club for les than a season,

well that went when lucus went out our only single defence midfielder, he would have shut down mata.

my concern is we have alot of young midfielders who should be subs and learning thier trade , henderson included who has huge talent, but will be ruined by expectations if we expect him to be as good as older world class players.

we need a 28 yera old done it all been thier midfielder who can control a game, just the one, we should not have let meirles and aqua go, we needed them until the youth got a little more confident etc,

get a grip those players we sold becuase they are established world class players at thier peak, are you one of these guys who expects henderson to go and outplay silva who has 6 years of top football exp more than him ?

A 30 year old 10million squad player. Surely we need to have more ambition than that. Why not buy the best young technical flair players we can find on the continent and combine that with the best young gritty English players. I'd give players with the potential of Silva, Mata, Ronaldo, Queresma, Valencia etc all the time they need to find consistency. Instead of blending team players like Downing and Henderson into a team we need to start buying OUTSTANDING INDIVIDUALS and find a way of blending them into an attacking team unit.

Steve Clarke and Kevin Keen partly responsible for West Hams relegation, joining us and turning us into relegtion candidates for next year --- CHECK

I agree with your A-F points but your 1-4 points originated behind a cupboard door in a land called NARNIA.

Our players have either gone stale or they are not good enough as far as I'm concerned which is why Fergie has to take credit. As soon as his players standards (whether legend or squad player) start to slip, HE SHOWS YOU THE DOOR. Ince, Keane, Nevilles, Butt, Kanchelskis, Sharpe, Pallister, Bruce, Cole, Yorke, Heinze, Veron, Sheringham etc etc will all testify to this.

Kenny, Carra, Gerrard and the rest of the players you mentioned should go. Not because of conspiracy but as I said due to abilty and sell by date.

You know far too much about Fergie & Utd...each to their own, but you disrespect Liverpool Legends far too much also for my liking.

Your final paragraph above is a laughable statement....Carra is being lined up as a future manager of Liverpool Football Club and will probably join the coaching staff in a year or two.

I'm too shocked / furious to discuss the Gerrard comment.....although just realising it's you i've been debating with on the Moses thread ref Bale & Lennon so I'll be ignoring any further comments you make....

Please sell Adam, Kuyt, Maxi, Aurelio, Aqualani, Cole (save what, £300k a week?) and start again. its not working, so have to bite the bullet in my opinion. Doni, Coates, Flanaghan, Spearing, Henderson, Sterling plus one on the bench. In my opinion Gerrard really needs a quality central midfielder, in whom he can rely on defending so he can attack with freedom. He was babysitting Spearing against Chelsea. In this respect there are 3 very good defensive midfielders i would like to see in a red shirt. Javi Martinez, Moussa Sissoko or Y'ann M'vila. Trim the wage bill and we can surely facilitate one marquee signing.Also need quallo attacking midfielders/wingers. Ramirez is promising. Granero doesn't play much for Real Madrid. On that point neither does Higuain - damn that would be awesome to have higuain! Anyhow, prob very unrealistic that one. Affelay at Barca? Kagawa at Dortmund has had a good season. Hulk - prob unrealistic also. Christian Eriksen at ajax? Adam JOHNSON - wasted talent on bench. Better than Downing and he plays about 5 minutes every 5 games. Downing has no excuses. 27 and vastly experienced in the prem and doesn't produce any where near as often as he can do. I cluld go on but I'm stopping now., getting angry again.

Your furious?!. You really are a child aren't you. You sound like someone who would have wrote in to 'Points of View'. This is a game of football. Grown men in shorts kicking a ball around.

I'll say it again, I like football but I don't love it like you obviously do. I keep them emotions for things that are important like family. Liverpool is merely a hobby that provides with entertainment whilst in return I support them financially and appose them if and when I see fit. I don't like it when we lose but the dog is safe in the knowledge that my foot will never connect with his head.

You have found a religion....and it is called football, congratulations.

Your intent to Ignore my posts highlights the child that you are son. Debate is about give and take. A man who fails to listen (or in this case read) is indeed blind. As you will obviously not be replying to this post hence your earlier statement of intent, good luck with your future endeavors.

You say your above statements are FACTS,....NO THEY ARE NOT they are just opinions which you are entitled to but be fair.

So lets address your facts shall we and see what the rest of the fans think

You state Spearing and the love child were brought in as cover for SG and Lucas,

1) Spearing is a Championship player and should be loaned out to such as he is clearly not good enough or experienced enough to play for the reds at this stage (he even cocked it up in the Man u game as well as the Chelsea game remember)

2) Henderson. ( the love child ) You do not spend 17 Mill on a player and get absolutely 0 impact and expect bedding in time as you put it, 17 Mill buys you Van Der Vart, Pienaar, Tiote, Ben Arfa, etc, and for a lot less money. Name me a prem game that he has had any impact then ?.

3) Shelvey. another championship player and should be sent out on loan, back to blackpool AGAIN I'm afraid

4) Coates. Needs to get his coat on and leave, clearly not ready for the reds yet, if he was any slower he would be arrested at Anfield for loitering ( Ryan Shawcross springs to mind for that possition to replace the legend carragher and cover for classy Agger injuries ).

5) Downing. Since when does a 20 Mill England International winger need bedding in time. He was a Middlesbrough player not so long ago and stiil plays like one and needs to go back there, for christ sake Craig Bellamy is a 32 brilliant striker with bad knees who cost nothing, he is a far better left winger than Downing, seriously.

6) Adam. Seriously, has anyone missed him playing for us since his injury, Once again a Blackpool player who is too slow and runs into the back of players all the time giving away free kicks and like the rest of the midfield except for the obvious (SG) doesn't score any goals.

Your Claim that your statements are not EXCUSES but FACTS is rubbish and you sound like Kenny as you defo use his terminology, words like Chelsea thoroughbreds and the players will be better for it in the future ( Kenny's Post Match analyse yea creep ) we hit the woodwork 31 times, goalies having worldies etc etc,..THEY ARE EXCUSES.

The reality is that we are not good enough in the prem ( BECAUSE WE HAVE A TOTAL CRAP MIDFIELD ) and when you play well you make your own luck and when you play bad you get a kick in the bollocks for your troubles,........its life I'm afraid.

You state Kenny should be given more time like next season and BEYOND ( Heaven Forbid ) because the fans wanted him....SO WHAT........BIG DEAL.......WHAT DO YOU WANT US TO DO...........BREAK OUT IN SPOTS.......Just what is your point here Chappo, it is very very clear that hiring KD has been a big mistake so lets deal with it and move on. Do you mean more time as in what Roy Hodgson got 6 months ?, and pound for pound except for the cup runs the stats show RH as a better manager than kenny, so lets get real here chappo if it wasn't for his name he would be sacked outright and all the right minded thinking Liverpool supporters would agree with me not you on this.

You state Patience is a virtue, very cliche boring rubbish and totally condescending to all Liverpool fans as we have been patient for over 20 years now so don't start that one